Some poignant moments are expected in a new show at Dubbo that will mark 100 years since the armistice that ended World War I.
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Four performing arts groups from the city are banding together for the one-off production.
Called Remembering the War Years - through song, dance and theatre, it will reflect on both battlefield and homefront experiences.
It will be staged at the Dubbo Regional Theatre on November 10, the eve of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
The collaboration involves Dubbo Theatre Company, Dubbo Ballet Studio, Stepping Out Dance Factory and the Mighty Big Band.
Dubbo Theatre Company member Jamie Foster said he thought the centenary would be an opportunity to bring together local performing arts groups to perform a concert that honoured the war years.
“The armistice was signed 100 years ago, the centenary is only going to happen once ever, so let’s do a show the night before, which reflects on that momentous occasion,” he said.
In developing the show, Mr Foster wanted to go beyond a “war perspective” and also look at what it was like to be at home.
“Back then there were families who had sons or daughters who went off to fight in the war, and I wanted to see it from there perspective as well,” he said.
“The loss of having those people leave or the loss for the community from having a whole bunch of people of a certain age disappearing to fight in a war and the good things that happened and the bad things that happened, all that too.”
The performance will include music, songs, dancing, theatrical excerpts, poetry and diary entries from the war years or which are about the war years.
Audiences can expect to be taken back in time with performances of songs made famous by the Andrews Sisters, who were at the height of their popularity in the World War II era.
Excerpts from ‘Allo ‘Allo!, which is set in World War II, and Blackadder, a series of which is set in World War I, are also part of the show.
Mr Foster anticipated there would be enough variety for everyone to enjoy.
“It’s going to have some poignant moments from when you talk about some of those diary entries, and the poetry, which was written by poets who were quite often in the trenches at the time,” he said.
“It’s going to have some humour in it, it’s going to look at the lighter side - of theatre, I wouldn’t say the lighter side of war, but there was comical moments made in later years looking back and the setting allows for that sort of humour to take place.”
He had been amazed to see some of the songs did date back to so many years earlier and believed they “still [had] meaning today”.